Washingtonville boys' soccer team advances despite injuries

MIDDLETOWN — The Washingtonville boys' soccer team was without two key forwards for Friday's opening-round state playoff game against Section 4 champion Corning.

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By William Montgomery

recordonline.com

By William Montgomery

Posted Nov. 10, 2012 at 2:00 AM
Updated Nov 10, 2012 at 10:13 PM

By William Montgomery

Posted Nov. 10, 2012 at 2:00 AM
Updated Nov 10, 2012 at 10:13 PM

» Social News

MIDDLETOWN — The Washingtonville boys' soccer team was without two key forwards for Friday's opening-round state playoff game against Section 4 champion Corning.

Luckily for the Wizards, they've got scorers in the midfield as well.

After sending a flurry of chances in on Corning goalkeeper Alex Goforth in the second half, Washingtonville senior midfielder Kevin Aussenheimer finally finished with 18:15 to play, the only goal the Wizards needed in a 1-0 victory at Faller Field.

"I made a diagonal run across the box and (John LaTouche) played a good ball in and I just played it with my chest and defensed it," Aussenheimer said.

Aussenheimer, who had scored the game-winning goal in overtime in Washingtonville's Section 9 Class AA semifinal victory over Warwick, took the ball from LaTouche, another midfielder.

"We had enough possessions to be looking for those balls," LaTouche said. "Kevin was making the right runs and I was able to find the right time. It all goes to him."

Washingtonville played without junior striker Justin Morgan, who tore the ACL in his left knee in the first half of Monday's Section 9 Class AA final against Monroe-Woodbury.

Billy Haas, who injured his left leg in the same game, was limited to just a bit more than 20 minutes of playing time in the first half.

Zach Johannessen, who had made the assist on Kurt Fluhler's game-winning goal in the section final, sat out with an illness.

That meant Washingtonville needed to fill in at forward, using Fluhler, Jason Lysack and a combination of Haas and Tyler Vitagliano at the position.

"I love my team. They all played great today," Haas said. "As long as we got the win, that's all that counts."

Corning, which had won its first Section 4 title since 1986, finished 11-7-2.

Washingtonville found a way to win the game, but the Wizards weren't exactly in a celebratory mood after the final whistle.

"Tonight, I don't think we played our best soccer," LaTouche said. "We got it done, yes, and we fought for it, but we didn't play our best soccer. We weren't smart all the time and we could have exploited a couple of weaknesses they had. We'll take it as it is and move on from here and learn from our mistakes."

"It just wasn't a good game," said Fluhler. "We just couldn't finish it tonight. We'll do it next time."

Washingtonville (13-1-3), which won its first game in the state playoffs since beating Union-Endicott in the opening round of the 1995 Class A tournament, will host the Section 1 champion on Tuesday at Faller Field in a Class AA state quarterfinal. Game time has yet to be determined.

Arlington (18-1-0) and North Rockland (18-1-0) played for the Section 1 title late Friday night.

The winner of that state quarterfinal advances to the final four, which will once again be hosted by Middletown on Nov. 17 and 18.

"We know a couple kids from Arlington. We used to play on a team with them up north," Aussenheimer said. "We know a couple of them, but it's not going to be too friendly if we play them."